Since his re-election to a third term on April 5, Rockford’s independent Mayor Larry Morrissey has been bringing his “A” game to a national audience.

In September he participated in the Clinton Global Initiative in Chicago; Wednesday, Morrissey testified in Washington, D.C., about the harm being done by across the board federal spending cuts called “sequestration,” to the industrial and aerospace economy, specifically in Rockford, a major aerospace manufacturing center.

Speaking at the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on Defense, chaired by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D- Ill., Morrissey urged lawmakers to adjust the cuts in order to prioritize defense spending over other spending, because cuts to the military budget adversely penalize American workers and hurt industrial cities struggling to rebuild their economies.

In prepared testimony furnished to me by Durbin’s office, Morrissey began be telling of Rockford’s woes:

“Like many cities, Rockford has struggled to weather an ongoing and deep recession. Almost a third of the area’s mortgages are underwater, which drove the headline of a recent Wall Street Journal article highlighting our community as the nation’s so-called “Underwater Mortgage Capital.”

Our unemployment rate as of August was 10.7 percent. That’s down from 15.7 percent in July 2009, but a long way from the 6 percent we were at before the economic collapse. Our poverty rate has more than doubled since 2000 and stands at approximately 19 percent. And while we are much smaller in size, we have had among the highest violent crime rates in the nation with gang violence and domestic violence on par with major urban centers like Chicago and New York,” Morrissey told senators.

Rockford is trying to move away from crisis management to long-term stainability and prosperity, Morrissey said.

“One of our key pathways for a prosperous future involves continued support for our aerospace manufacturing industry, a powerful economic driver for our community and our nation, but an industry threatened by the sequestration. For context, there are approximately 32,000 individuals working in the manufacturing sector in (Winnebago and Boone counties.) Rockford’s concentration of manufacturing is twice the U.S. average and continues to grow. The region boasts a global reputation for having strong concentrations in several advanced manufacturing clusters, including aerospace,” the mayor said.

Sequestration is drying up federal spending on defense contracts, he warned, thus hurting Rockford industries that depend on the government for 10, 20 and 30 percent of their production.

While sequestration may be reducing the deficit, Morrissey warned that it is hurting national pride. He lamented the cancellation of the Rockford Air Fest because of the military’s inability to participate, saying “it is simply not the action of the greatest nation in the history of the world.”

“I would ask that Congress exercise its authority to compromise and make cuts where needed to do the most good and the least damage, prioritizing your budget around our national priorities. From my perspective, that means defense comes first.

“As for domestic spending, I would ask that Congress focus on prioritizing the programs and funds that matter the most to the economy and the social safety net so that we at the local level can deploy those resources to achieve the best return on investment. For Rockford and for this nation, better results means being open to ending failed programs, reforming others and being open to more promising new ideas. Unfortunately, until the current budget crisis is resolved, it seems that Congress will never have time to address these fundamental aspects of government operations.”

That’s only a portion of what he said, of course, but all in all, it was an impressive performance from Hizzoner.